Sophomore Stories Part XII "The Shower Curtain"

My roommate and my new friends on the 5th floor of Ellsworth Hall let my 19th birthday come and go with little fanfare, which was fine with me because even though I had known some of these people only a month, I was a little afraid of what they might do. As it turned out, my fears were justified.

It was a Sunday morning if I remember and I awoke and. as I normally did, gathered my things to take a shower. Our room was on the very end, closest to the lobby and the bathroom/showers were in the middle of the hall, so I trudged the 60 feet or so up the hall to wash my hair.

Everything was going as planned, and perfectly normal, until I pulled back the shower curtain to find my clothes and towel had been taken, and in their place, a birthday card adorned with this Bible verse.

Job 1:21(a) "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return"

Wonderful. I have my birthday card and nothing else. I was dripping wet and in my birthday suit. I didn't have a key to my room. I had two paths back to my room.
1. Open the bathroom window, 5 stories up, crawl naked out onto the ledge and make my way back to my room and crawl through the window.
2. Walk the 60 feet or so back to my room in the buff.

I decided to evaluate the situation for option #2. I peeked out of the door and looked down toward my room to find James, Eric and several others laughing and holding my key. They had conveniently opened the door to the lobby and the door to the girls wing on the other side so anyone in the hallway could see to each end of the building.

Well, I was in quite a pickle, especially when someone noted to James that I could crawl out on the ledge, and he quickly darted into our room to lock the windows. I was down to one option and the longer I waited, the audience was sure to grow.

At this point, I'm coming to grips with the inevitable reality that I was going to have to bare myself to these people...a thought I was none too comfortable with since I'm a rather modest guy.

Then I looked back at the shower stalls. Each of them had a floor length shower curtain hanging from a metal rod. I grabbed the first one I found, methodically removed the rings from the rod until I had a sufficient covering for me to walk as comfortably as possible back to my room.

There was a collective groan from the half-dozen patrons who saw me emerge from the bathroom with a shower curtain around my waist. When I arrived at my door, James reluctantly gave me my room key, and I had averted total embarrassment.

Looking back, it probably would have made for a better story if I had not commandeered the government issue shower curtain...it is the only birthday experience I've had where my birthday suit, and a crowd of onlookers, has been involved. Quite memorable...for me at least.